OSEC CHAPTER5-3

5.3 MAGIC Station

5.3.1 Introduction

The MAGIC Station controls MACHINE #2, which is a real vertical machining center from TOYODA. MAGIC station receives EIA code from the CAM Station via Ethernet. EIA code is transferred to MELDASMAGIC card. A remote monitoring broadcaster is available.

5.3.2 MAGIC Station details

Construction of MAGIC Station are as follows:

Table 5.3.1. Construction of MAGIC Station

Personal computer	MITSUBISHI Apricot XEN-PC, Pentium 90MHz
Monitor	17 inch, 1024x768, 256 colors
Attachments	Microsoft mouse
Network	3com Etherlink III, ISA , 10BASE-T
Expansion	MELDASMAGIC PC-based NC Card, ISA
Operating System	Microsoft Windows NT3.5 Workstation

System connection in the MAGIC Station is shown in Figure 5.3.1.

Figure 5.3.1: System connection in the MAGIC Station.

In the MAGIC Station, three kind of processes are running: (1) MMI application processes, (2) Configuration Applications (3) Data Arranging Application Processes. MMI application calls library stacks to communicate with MELDASMAGIC card( shown in Figure 5.3.2). These are shown in Figure 5.3.3 which is a kind of MMS (Manufacturing Message Specifications).

Figure 5.3.2: Library stacks in MAGIC Station

Figure 5.3.3: MMS functions in MELDASMAGIC
PostScript Data of Fig.5.3.3

5.3.3 PC-Based CNC (MELDASMAGIC)

PC-Based CNC is provided by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. The CNC function has been packed onto a single circuit board and can be installed in a PC-AT compatible personal computer. This board has following merits.

Reductions in development time at customizing CNC
The custom application library and standard HI software package written in Visual Basic runs on Microsoft Windows Ver.3.1 or higher are provided by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. They are used for easy and rapid development of machine maker original functions.
Reductions in FMS and CIM development time
Using commercial personal computer software (database or table calculator), the NC data including the tool information, parameters, production results and quality information can be controlled.
Furthermore, commercial ethernet products expand open data connectivity. Netware, LAN manager, TCP/IP can be used to exchange data with other machines and servers on the network. These result in remote operation state monitoring, remote NC data control, FMS, and CIM.
Needless to say, the network can exchange data via the Internet.
Ability for Control of Various Industrial Machines
The basic functions for NC control include the following: access control related functions such as number of simultaneous control axes: 4 axes, minimum movement unit:0.1/1 micron, maximum cutting speed:240m/min, servo motor:50W to 9KW, the remote I/O with maximum number of input/output points:256/256, smooth high-gain control. MELDASMAGIC has PLC development tools for ladder circuit creation and ladder circuit execution state monitor functions. Thus various industrial machines including machine tools such as machining centers, drilling centers, milling machines, lathes and grinding machines can be controlled.
Easy Improvement of Functions and Performance
We can easily upgrade our system using the wide variety of personal computer hardware available on the market, e.g. hard disk storage, memory, CPU, graphic adapter, network adapter, keyboards, pointing devices, etc.

Figure 5.3.4: Specifications of MELDASMAGIC Card

Figure 5.3.5: Photograph of MELDASMAGIC Card

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